I was baptized in the Catholic Church as an
infant and went to church every Sunday until
I was eight. Now I'm an adult and I want to
start practicing the faith again.

What should I do or how do I make this
happen?

Kris

{
I
went to Church until I was eight and now want
to start practicing the faith again; how do
I ...? }

John
replied:

Hi, Kris —

What sacraments did you receive beyond
baptism?

Did you receive your First Holy
Communion?

Did you make your First Confession?

Odds are you were not confirmed.
The answer will vary, depending on
whether or not you received your
First Communion and Confession. First,
you can start attending Mass any
time you want.
If you have made your First Confession
and Communion as a child, you'll
need to go to Confession first since
you've been away from the Church.
The priest will help you through
it; after that,
in addition to attending Mass on
Sundays, you are free to receive
Holy Communion any time.

If you have made your First Confession
and Communion then you need to
prepare for Confirmation.

If you have not, you need to
prepare to receive all three sacraments
(First Communion, First Confession
and Confirmation) together.

Your will also need to enter an RCIA
(Rite of Christian Initiation of
Adults) class in order to be prepared
for adult Confirmation. In reality,
this program is meant for converts,
but it's also used for adult faith
formation.

So the first step is to start attending
Church again. Make an appointment
to talk to a priest and explain your
situation to him. RCIA typically
starts in September and Confirmations
take place on Holy Saturday at the
Easter Vigil Mass, unless you've
already received your first Holy
Communion, in which case the Bishop
may reserve the right to confirm
you himself. In that case, the
diocese usually has adult confirmations
or you can get confirmed when the
Bishop comes to confirm the High
School kids.

For now, just get to church this
morning and talk to the priest. He'll
probably tell you to call the office
during the week which you should
do. He'll be able to get everything
straightened out.

and ............. Welcome Home!

John DiMascio

Please
report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey